As Seen in Vanity Fair's August 2006 Issue!
As Seen in US News & World Report's September 11 Fifth Anniversary Issue!
As Seen in Time Magazine's September 11, 2006 Issue!
As Seen in Phoenix New Times' August 9, 2007 Issue!

Monday, December 17, 2007

The "Crime Scene" Nonsense

I mostly ignore this argument because it seems so patently absurd, but a lawyer resuscitates it in this article, so I thought it might be worth spending a couple minutes on.

All United States law students are required to complete a criminal law course. The examination to obtain their license to practice law has criminal law as one of the subjects covered. All lawyers are trained that the normal procedure is to yellow tape the crime scenes. No crime scene evidence is to be disturbed. You’ve seen this action numerous times on the CSI television shows. In the case of 9/11, no yellow tape of the scene was made to preserve the evidence. To the contrary, the scene was taped off to prevent investigation. Persons who identified themselves as Federal Bureau of Investigation agents collected the film from all known surveillance cameras around the 9/11 crime scenes. The evidence was immediately loaded on trucks, carried away and destroyed.

This almost seems like a parody of the Troofer's position, it's so ridiculously extreme. First, note the obvious contradiction: "No yellow tape of the scene was made to preserve the evidence...the scene was taped off...." I mean, what is is complaint here? Did they use the wrong color tape?

"The evidence was immediately loaded on trucks, carried away and destroyed."

Well, loaded on trucks, yes.

You know what really bugs me about this crap? Had the Bush Administration done as the "Truthers" now demand, they'd be howling for his head for having obstructed emergency personnel's access to the WTC site to search for survivors. I mean, can you see the cops and FBI putting up crime scene tape around the entire lower Manhattan, and saying to the firemen and other rescue workers, "Sorry, but we cannot allow you inside this line, because this is a crime scene. No, you can't move any of those steel beams to save lives, because we have to investigate each and every piece of steel for evidence of controlled demolition."